Recipes for a Raw Coconut Smoothie and a Raw Yoghurt

Do you do Raw and miss yoghurt or perhaps you just do not do dairy. Young coconuts make an amazing smoothie, and then if you like you can go one step further, and make some raw, non dairy yoghurt.

South Africans from western descent are not that familiar with young coconuts as these are truly tropical fruits. This was the situation until recently where you can now even find young coconuts in Cape Town to satisfy the needs of raw fooders and others that have fallen in love with this delicious fruit.

So exactly what do you do with the young coconut to make a smoothie or yoghurt.
First you need to open the coconut. Now this does involve you investing in an inexpensive machette Be sure that you know what you are doing cause this is a really lethal weapon. I have seen Mozambican guys that make opening them look like childs play. It takes a certain knack.

Then, scrape the coconut ‘meat’ out (see video) and place the meat into a super blender such as a Vitamix or Hi-Blend Multi Speed, together

 

 

The recipe reads
2 cups young coconut meat (2-4 coconuts)

1/4 – 1/2 cup coconut water, (you might need more coconut water to thin the mixture down)

Directions

• Place the coconut meat and coconut water in a super blender and blend until smooth. Add extra coconut water if necessary.
• Add the pro-biotic powder and blend lightly ( just enough to mix the powder in)

You now have a stunning coconut smoothie. If the coconut milk and meat was not refrigerated then cool the smoothie off in the fridge before serving.

To make the Raw Coconut Yogurt 

Take the

Place the coconut cream in a glass jar with a lid and allow to sit at room temperature for 8-12 hours. Stored in the refrigerator will keep up to 1 week.

One Man’s Meat is Another Man’s Poison

When my daughters were young teenagers, they decided to become vegetarian.  I was against the idea as I was not prepared to cook separate meals and told them that I was still making what I always did and they could just eat the vegetables.  However, it did plant a bit of a seed in my mind and also the fact that I always watched the animal programmes on TV as I have always loved all creatures, and realised that animals have feelings too.

During December 1995 I decided to make it my new year’s resolution, to become a vegetarian. It was decision that I did not take lightly and I waited patiently for the 1^st January 1996 to roll around.  However, during that December I was watching Keith Floyd, the British chef, doing one of his cooking demonstrations on an ostrich farm in Oudtshoorn.  There he was with his glass of wine in his hand cooking an ostrich flambe with all the other ostriches running around and I thought to myself what an insensitive and uncaring man he was.  I then realised that I was not much better and instead of waiting until 1^st January, I gave up meat, fish and chicken from that day on (15 years ago).

 

I used to love the taste of meat, fish and chicken, enjoyed braais and roasts, chicken done in every way, all fish (except shellfish).  Tuna salad was a staple for me. I used to order baby chicken in a restaurant and enjoyed sucking on the tiny bones. Wiener Schnitzel was delicious done in breadcrumbs with a lemon sauce.  I never took note that veal was in fact a baby calf.  Veal calves are killed at about 18 or 20 weeks as “white” veal, or fed on grain and hay and killed at 22 to 35 weeks to produce red or pink veal. Delicious lamb roasts on a Sunday comprised of a little helpless animal killed at the age of between one month and one year.  Some of the lucky ones managed to be a bit older before they were killed as sheep. I could go on and on about the unnecessary killing spree of baby and adult animals.

Transport of the animals, killing of the animals – Poor practices include cruel treatment of animals during loading, unloading, transport and slaughter. Cruel treatment includes gouging out eyes before slaughter, using fire, twisting tails and beating exhausted animals to load and offload animals on to trucks and slaughtering animals with cuts across the throat that are incomplete and slaughtering in front of other animals

Some people say that fish don’t have feelings.  Well I disagree, it may not be feelings as we do, just instinct, however as Paul McCartney once said:  A fish’s life is as important to the fish, as yours is to you.  Have you ever watched a fish gasping for air and thrashing around when it is taken out of the water.

Then there is the whole subject on its own of fishing for larger species.  The trawlers drop their mammoth size nets and whatever unlucky fish is swimming in the vicinity also get caught in the nets and just die for no reason whatsoever. So many areas in the world have been over-fished and many fish are becoming endangered and possibly extinct.

Then there is the whole subject of eggs of battery hens.  These hens never see the light of day or walk on solid ground.  Their entire life consists of being in a wire cage. Perhaps the most distinctive feature of the battery cage is the size. Most battery cages are barely larger than the hens they contain, and in many instances, hens are unable to move or turn around. Typically, battery hens are installed in battery cages within weeks of hatching, and they spend around nine months in cages before being disposed of because they are no longer productive.

Like many animals, chickens can develop some curious responses to stress. Many battery hens, for example, will attempt to attack each other through the wire. As a result, most commercial egg producer debeak their battery hens periodically, removing their beaks with a heated knife so that they cannot attack each other. The hens may also throw themselves against the bars of the cage or wedge body parts into the wire, in some cases severely injuring or killing themselves.  Although I do eat eggs, I only buy free range eggs.

Similarly, I only purchase milk which is RBST free, that is from cows that have not been force-fed hormones that cause many health issues for cows.

Its surprising how many people do give me a hard time about being vegetarian, from people quoting from the bible saying that god said the animals are here for us to eat.  That may be the case. however, I choose not to have something die because of me.

Whilst doing research on this topic, I was absolutely sickened by the cruelty and inhumanity of what sometimes goes into putting an animal meal on the table and I am so grateful that I am not part of it, and it reinforces my beliefs, and I am so happy to be a vegetarian.

Meat Patches

University finds solution to global warming. It might affect you so read on!

It has long been known that the estimated 1,3 billion cattle are breathing out CO2 and blowing off methane at such a rate as to be serious contributors to global warming. Just in case you are not aware of the impact that global warming can have on the earth, just take this as an example of climate change. Africa will experience heat waves and serious drought on a continent that already short of water. Wars are being fought over oil. When will people start fighting over water, the source of all life on this planet?

The contribution of cattle to this problem has set New York University and Oxford University to seek a solution to this ever-growing problem. It has been suggested that livestock farming is contributing to a massive 51% of the greenhouse emissions (Goodland and Anhang 2009). Global warming is not going away unless something serious is done we are going to be in dire straits. In their paper they consider a new kind of solution called human engineering. This involves biomedical modifications to humans that will reduce the number of cattle contributing to the problem or measures to enable humans to adapt to climate change”
As a vegetarian, this is the part that made me laugh out loud. Basically the suggestion is to find a way of making people hate eating meat. The academics recognised that people lack the motivation and willpower to give up eating meat So have suggested that a more realistic option would be to induce chainsa mild intolerance to meat. this can be achieved by humans that currently eat meat to wear meet patches which would be akin to nicotine patches for smokers. These would stimulate the immune system against common bovine proteins causing the person to have an unpleasant experience and not want to eat meat.

The other bizarre suggestions that the academics made to reduce the demand for livestock were:

• To make people smaller through hormone treatment and genetic engineering. Smaller people eat less than bigger people which means the consumption will be reduced
• To make people smarter with the use of drugs. Generally smarter people have less children and this again means there will be less consumption.

The lead author of the paper, S. Matthew Liao indicated that these were just ideas to deal with climate change and he was not in favour of these ideas being enforced on anybody but rather for people to volunteer in the interests of climate change.

Well it seems that the impact on global warming by livestock is serious enough that ‘Meatless Monday’ is actually being taken on by top restaurants around the world. Public figures, film produces, actors, actresses and schools all standing behind this moral drive to save the planet. When I was a child it was a common practice for Catholics to abstain from meat on Friday and instead to eat fish. Projecting forward I can see that Mondays will be a day when people will find difficulty in eating meat publicly on Monday. That will be a day I for one look forward to!

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